


Even love is not worth dying for

by RebeccaAnabelBurrows



Series: Of Dark Knights and Green Lanterns [1]
Category: DCU, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce is just lovestruck, Hal is the sick one, Hanahaki Disease, Happy Ending, Justice League (DCU) as Family, M/M, barry is a good friend, but a bout of angst before that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22899907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebeccaAnabelBurrows/pseuds/RebeccaAnabelBurrows
Summary: Hanahaki Disease's oneshot.-Going closer to the room, to him, made his throat itch. It would only get worse the following days, and Hal was more than glad when he was called in another galaxy.He longed to be away from Bruce Wayne. He was smart enough not to hope the disease would go away because of the distance but at least he wouldn't have to look at its cause as often.
Relationships: Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne
Series: Of Dark Knights and Green Lanterns [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1645951
Comments: 5
Kudos: 156





	Even love is not worth dying for

Hal Jordan was a dying man. He didn't realize it, at first. It was just coughing, after all. Had he been in denial then ? Was his subconscious pushing him to consider the less scary options only because he was already aware he was doomed ?

Well, it was irrelevant, now - Hal was dying and he knew it all too well. The petals falling from his lips during his last coughing fit couldn't have made the reality of his condition more obvious : he could cancel his medical appointment, no ordinary doctor would be of any help.

The Green Lantern had heard about the Hanahaki disease. It wasn't as common on Earth as on other planets but it wasn't unheard of. 

He knew what caused it. Unrequited love. Unrequited love, in usual conditions, sucked. Unrequited love, when you had the Hanahaki disease, could kill you.

Hal had left the League's briefing, excusing himself because his throat was bothering him again, minutes ago. He had reached the bathroom when he had started coughing. A petal had fallen on the floor.  
He had frowned then, not sure of what had been happening. 

It was only when he picked up the delicate yellow petal that he realized he had coughed it up. He was crushing the petal in his fist when Barry had entered the bathroom.

"Everything's alright ?" the Flash had asked, frowning at his best friend.

Hal had met his gaze and offered him a quick, if a bit twisted, smile.

"Yeah, just feeling a bit down. I just need a few hours of sleep."

Barry had clapped him on the back.

"Don't we all. Just try to stay awake until the end of Bats' speech, he doesn't like interruptions." he had laughed, leading Hal back to the briefing room.

"Entitled prick." the Green Lantern had muttered under his breath. 

Going closer to the room, to him, made his throat itch. It would only get worse the following days, and Hal was more than glad when he was called in another galaxy.

He longed to be away from Bruce Wayne. He was smart enough not to hope the disease would go away because of the distance but at least he wouldn't have to look at its cause as often.

The mission took him a month. A month full of petals - red, yellow, pink : a festival of colors - of all sizes and forms. Sometimes Hal could tell which flower they were coming from but he wasn't much of a gardener and he didn't know which flower he was coughing up most of the time. 

Bruce would have, he thought, before coughing at the idea. The mere name made him sick, now.  
The petals were more numerous each time, and buds started to form, along with some thin and short stems. There was blood, too.

He kept hiding it from the League and the Lanterns.  
However, Barry found out. He had walked into the bathroom when Hal had dropped a new bunch of bloodied flowers in the bin. The Green Lantern had frozen.

"You didn't murder a florist, right ?" 

Barry trying to lighten the atmosphere was familiar but his tone was anything but casual.

"I wish."

He had never thought Barry would take it so well. Even if by the tightness in his voice, he could tell that wasn’t that simple.

"How long ?" Barry had asked as Hal washed his hands. 

"Two months."

And two weeks and a half, he didn’t add. It was known that the Hanahaki disease killed within three months. Four months top. 

"Hal ! You should have said something."

The concerned shrugged. 

"Yeah well it's not my favorite topic."

Barry gratified him with a dirty look.

"Can you do something about it ?"

Another half-hearted shrug. 

"I am not much for humiliation."

What would be worse ? Bruce letting him down gently or being mad at him ? 

"You'd rather be dead than tell them or have it removed ?"

Barry looked furious. Hal wasn’t the best at self-care but he had reached a whole new level of recklessness. 

"That's not -"

Hal sighed, he doubted his friend would understand. He would have the surgery, eventually. Probably. There was time still. 

"Hal. Who are they ?"

The Green Lantern would have told him but coughed up some curious black flowers and Barry looked like he was about to say something but they were called on League’s business. 

"You’re not off the hook. We’re so talking about this when we’re back.” Barry promised.

They had suited up and joined their teammates, dropping the subject for the moment. At some point during their battle against two superheroes gone rogue, the two friends were separated.

Everything was fine until Hal started coughing. It would have been alright if he wasn’t on comms. 

“Green Lantern ?”

“I’m fine.”

Hearing Bruce’s voice wasn’t helping. He coughed some more.

“Fu- !” he cried out when more bloodied petals than ever before found their way out of his mouth and the construct he was standing on collapsed when he lost his concentration.

All Hal could register after that was the pain radiating through his body. That, and the flowers that he kept throwing up. He could hear his teammates talking through the comms in ushered tones but couldn’t make sense of what they were saying. 

He curled in on himself. Voices. He could hear voices. Not in the comms, no. Just above him. He coughed some more. The voices stopped. He felt himself being lifted, the warmth of someone else’s arms around him, and more petals. Always more. His whole body hurt from his fall and he was choking on the damn flowers. After another fit, he blacked out from pain and exhaustion.

When Hal opened his eyes, he knew he wasn’t dead yet. First, only life could hurt that much. Second, the sight of Bruce talking quietly through comms made him cough a few petals.

He sat up and drank from the cup on the bedside table. Bruce had ended his call with the promise to keep in touch and moved from the window to sit next to him the second he realized Hal was awake. 

The Green Lantern felt deeply uncomfortable under his scrutiny. 

“You’re on babysitting duty ?” he asked finally, when it was clear Bruce wasn’t going to talk without prompting.

It was strange, sitting here in a hospital gown with Bruce in a crisp suit at his side.

“You’ve been unconscious for nearly three hours. The others are still fighting Grey Light - she kept fleeing away from them. We caught her partner before your fall - he’s with A.R.G.U.S. for now. Allen wanted to stay with you but I sent him away, he’s the only one as fast as Grey Light on the team. I volunteered to stay since I can monitor things from here.” he said.

Hal nodded dully, absorbing the stream of information.

“I just remembered - don’t tell me you had to carry me here.” Hal groaned, hiding his eyes behind his hands.

Unbeknownst of him, Bruce Wayne smiled at his childish antics.

“You have Clark to thank for that.” he clarified.

Hal groaned some more in embarrassment, before coughing again. Bruce handed him a basin for the petals.

“I didn’t bring flowers, since you seem to provide those yourself.”

Hal briefly wondered if Bruce realized how unsubtle he was. He wasn’t as direct as Barry, but it was obvious he wanted to talk about the disease too.

“I am rolling with laughter.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it in your state. You broke two ribs and sprained your left wrist in your fall. Not relying that much on your constructs would be better for your health.”

Hal grinned when he realized Bruce was right. He could feel too many parts of his body he wasn’t accustomed to feel. However, he felt indigned at the implications of Batman’s last comment.

"There’s nothing wrong with my constructs, Spooky ! They’re perfect. If it hadn’t been for those damn flowers -"

He caught the spark in Bruce’s eyes too late. 

“Allen said it had been two months. But you lied to him, didn’t you ? It had been closer to three months. It had to. You were throwing up whole daffodils- you have to be in the final stage.”

Your presence didn’t help, Hal refrained to say. 

“Barry should learn to keep his mouth shut. What if I am - in the final stage - anyway ?”

Bruce stood up and paced in the room before turning to Hal.

"I know it's not my decision to make but Jordan, what the hell ? Don't you want to live ?"

Hal looked at the ceiling, dodging his teammate’s razor sharp gaze.

"I also don’t want to have my feelings removed from me no matter how painful they are. Feelings are what we are made of, Bruce. Is it living if they’re taken from you ?"

Bruce sat next to him again, seemingly unable to commit to a still position. His face looked expressionless but he was also buzzing with energy.

"It's not worth it to die over them." he stated, so calm Hal shivered.

Hal coughed a bit. A small camelia fell on the sheets, despite the basin. Bruce grabbed it before Hal, playing with it for a few seconds before throwing it in the basin.

Hal's eyes focused on the camelia, now lying on a bed of colorful petals of other species. Other species. Like this woman, on DePa.

"Have you ever met someone who had it removed ? I have. Her name is Rena-Bvi-Gii. Her species - nevermind. The important thing is that she was not the same afterwards. I don’t want that. I swear I don’t want to die, but I don’t want to change either.”

Bruce had taken his hand and Hal felt like he was going to die or throw up a whole garden center.

"You’ll feel again, Hal. There are people who love you and who will make you love again. And personally, I'd rather have you different than dead. We all change, after all.”

Crap. He was going to cry if Bruce didn’t stop talking. And to choke if he didn’t let go of his hand.

"Thank you ? I do value your friendship."

Blood-stained rose petals fell in the basin.

"This isn't what I am offering. Of course you will need time and space but - but whenever you're ready, I'd like to take you on a date. I know it’s second best but even if the one who’s doing that to you doesn’t care, I do - please consider it instead of dying."

Hal closed his eyes. Seriously ? 

"Bruce."

The man let go of his hand and rubbed his temples. 

"Sorry. It was far too soon, right ? It’s just - I had to say something. I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I just hoped I could convince you to accept the surgery.”

“There will be no surgery.” Hal said. 

He was sure of it, now. Bruce’s eyes widened - he seemed a bit frantic, now.

“Hal, this isn’t just about me - you’re a Green Lantern. And we need you in the Justice League, you c-”

The Green Lantern reached for Bruce’s face with his hands. The man in a suit shut up.

“Actually, it is about you. I haven’t coughed a single petal since you said you cared. I really hope I don’t misunderstand anything and you’re not going to punch me, because if you let me I am going to kiss you right now.”

Bruce nodded sharply. Both of them heard the door opening and people barging in the room - the Justice League was not known for its discretion - a few seconds later but they didn’t stop kissing for a few more seconds. 

“Never do that to me again.” Bruce whispered in Hal’s ear when Diana cleared her throat.

Bruce and Hal turned to face their teammates. Hal laced their hands together.

“I am glad we were almost done with Grey Light when you cut off the comms to snog Hal.” Clark observed.

The vigilante licked his lips, unbothered and unapologetic. He knew his team would manage, and Hal was better off now than he was before. 

“Someone had to rescue him.” he said.

Hal smiled, tracing circles with his thumb on Bruce’s hand.

“What with me being such a valuable asset, and all.” he said, battling his eyelashes at his team.

“Valuable asset who nearly died of stubborness.” Barry snapped. 

They would need to talk later. What Hal had done was reckless and his best friend sounded very unhappy about it. To be fair, Hal would have been too, if their situations were reversed.

“You didn’t even insist on staying at my side after my near-death.” Hal pouted.

Barry rolled his eyes at his best friend. Rubbing shoulders - and probably other body parts but the Flash didn't wish to hear more about that - with Batman wouldn’t help to tone down his dramatic side. 

“Your boyfriend volunteered and I guessed my presence would be unwanted since I’ve seen you coughing black bat flowers before the mission.” Barry explained. 

“Wait, that’s what the little black flowers are called ?” Hal laughed. “And how could you be sure Bruce shared my feelings ?” he asked. 

The whole team laughed. Bruce sighed, and Hal looked puzzled. 

“Don’t pay them attention.” Bruce said.

He had crossed his arms on his chest and looked - funnily enough, according to Hal - like he was about to pout.

“Everyone here knows he has it bad for you. Don’t look at me like that Bruce, Hal is the only one who didn’t notice your lingering glances and growing interest for him.” Diana concluded.

Bruce made a show of accompanying their teammates to the door not long after.

“You’ve all seen Hal, he’s good, you can go. I’ll stay with him, good night.” he said.

They didn’t protest much, probably because Hal actually looked quite tired and Bruce was doing his Batman’s face, the one nobody wanted to deal with.

“He really missed his shot at being a bouncer.” he heard Barry mutter to Clark.

“Don’t wear him out, he is still recovering from his fall.” Diana reminded him with a wink.

Five minutes later, Hal had scooted over and Bruce had taken off his shoes and left his jacket on the chair before crawling in the hospital bed, spooning his now boyfriend. They talked some more, adjusting their positions for Hal’s injuries. Soon enough, they have fallen fast asleep, Bruce's arm circling Hal's waist.

That was how the nurse found them the next morning.


End file.
